Health Insurance Articles
Top 5 Reasons for High Health Insurance Costs
2009-08-20
There will be a time in everyone’s life when they will have to make a visit to a physician or a hospital; whether it is for their routine check-up, a sudden ear infection, or the diagnosis of a major disease. These services are not free and it seems like health insurance coverage costs are skyrocketing at an alarming rate. What is causing this outrageous increase? Following are five major reasons for these escalations.
1. Many physicians have adopted a practice which is commonly referred to as ‘defensive medicine’. There is such a high rate of malpractice suits across the country and many doctors are afraid of falling victim to one of these expensive lawsuits. To cover their bases, often doctors will order a barrage of unnecessary tests, procedures, or therapies for a patient. The reasoning is simple. If they test for every known disease or condition they can think of, their chances of being sued will decrease. The problem with this line of thinking is that each of these procedures is expensive and where does that money come from? – Healthcare.
2. The bulk of health coverage premiums are used to cover administrative costs. This can be anything from claims processing, sales, and paper trails. Faxing and mailing are still common methods of communication.
3. Unfortunately, statistics show that women are charged more for medical treatment and procedures than men are; at least in their earlier years. It has been proven that women tend to make more doctor visits than men do; although this trend is reversed once men reach their 50s.
4. Health care companies would rather focus on treating a disease or condition than on preventative medicine. Teaching patients about nutrition and healthy lifestyles, including exercise and proper eating, can cost a lot less than treating them for diabetes, and performing heart bypass operations. The same is applied to smoking. Cessation aids cost far less than having to put someone through rounds of cancer chemotherapy. Yet, despite the obvious difference in cost, preventative measures are pushed to the wayside. Could this be because the health companies receive more money with bigger treatments?
5. Physicians receive money for every office visit they perform. If a patient makes an appointment with his or her doctor and spends, say 15 minutes in his office, and then leaves with a prescription in hand, the doctor will have more than likely requested a follow-up appointment for the next week. In fact, this follow-up appointment, in many cases, is unnecessary. So a simple visit to the doctor for a simple ailment may actually turn into 2 or 3 visits for the same thing. Thus, the physician earns money for each visit.
